As the world turns..and turns, and turns

Okay, been awhile but that's really nothing new! DH will be home soon!! Yay!! That's the good stuff. The bad stuff, my grandma had a stroke and is recovering. Well, it's not really all bad because they initially did not expect her to survive. She's starting to come around though. That's my grandma. She's tough! I cannot tell you the tears I shed and the anxiety I've had over this. I know that she's had a great life and all but she's my grandma. I would go to her house in the summer time and snap purple hull peas while drinking iced tea and eating fried apple pies. I really have to learn how to make those pies. She rolls the dough paper thin and fills it with the cooked apples and fries them up. Yeah, we can even make fruit fattening in the south. We haven't met a food yet that we haven't found a way to fry. Best part is, those pies are good!! See, this is why I exercise. I'd be as big as a house if I didn't. Let's face it, I'm not giving up fried pies any time soon. My grandma also hand quilted quilts for all of us granddaughters. My Mom still keeps my quilt. Apparently at 33, I'm still not responsible enough to have it. My grandma is a great gardener too. She loves flowers and plants. I used to play in her rose garden and pretend I was a princess. I have a zillion other stories about my grandma. She's really a neat person and incredibly resourceful. I can only hope to be just a little like her. Okay, before I start getting all teary again, I'm going to move on to knitting news. I've finished a good many things up since I last blogged. Let's start it off with the Somewhat Cowl. Okay, I dig it a lot. I used Elann's yarn--I think it was highland silk. Anyway, it was a nice yarn even if it was a bit splitsy. It has to be nice and cool for me to wear it though. Any sign of heat and I get itchy. Now, the pattern is nice and Wendy has added some changes to get a better fit. That said, you have to use your brain when you knit this if you want a good fit. That means stopping and trying it on to determine if you need to make any pattern adjustments. I like that because I get a custom fit. If you want some mindless knitting, this may not be it. Don't get me wrong, there are mindless parts of it because it is stockinette but you do have to watch it in some criticial areas for proper fit. Overall, I like the pattern and the yarn. I'd recommend it. Next up, Not your standard issue sweatshirt. Okay, I'd been dying to knit this for awhile. I used Knit Picks Main Line for the yarn sub. Okay, let me say now that I really like most of knit picks' yarn and haven't been dissatisfied yet. This particular just isn't my favorite though it does have some good qualities. The colors are nice and it is reasonably soft with good stitch definition. The down side is that it seems to show wear very quickly. My sweater has a soft fuzzy halo to it already. That might be okay to some it just wasn't what I expected. So, while I love their other yarn, this particular one is not my favorite. I dont' hate it but I can't say I love it. On to the pattern. It's well written and an interesting knit. The only part that I didn't like was the hood so I left it off. It came up too short and was very pointy. Has anyone perfected the knit hood? There just has to be a better way. I had to do a do over on the seaming but that had nothing to do with the pattern. Let's just say I remember why I prefer knitting in the round. Overall, I'd recommend the pattern sans the hood. You can decide whether you would use main line or not. It was an economical alternative for my purposes but I'd recommend buying a skein and swatching it to see if you like it despite the drawbacks. So, what's on my needles now? Well, lots of stuff! To my kids' amazement, I'm knitting them some stuff. Yeah, I normally only knit for myself but the kids are big martin mystery fans so I've designed a cardi based on his shirt. I'm using Knit picks Swish in red pepper and some bare I dyed yellow. Let me tell you, this is the softest yarn! Even my youngest, who screeches if he touches wool, loves it! The pattern is my own so I'll let you know how it goes, The other kids knit is EZ's moebius vest. I'm using some handspun from a CVM named Andy. I got his fleece from Shepherdchik (her fleece rocks!). The fleece is really springy and is knitting up nicely despite my beginner's thick and thin spinning. I dyed the fleece a blue color that didn't turn out at all how I expected. I actually hated the color but my oldest liked so I decided to make the boy's a vest from it. I've also started the icelandic lace shawl using a kit from Sarah's yarns. I love buying from her. She ships so fast! I'm mulling over which of my own designs to get going on next. I might put the names in a hat and draw them out. Who knows? So, until later, take it easy! Alicia